Chrome OS 85 makes buttery-smooth refresh rates for external displays simple to set up

It’s been quite some time since the initial experimental flags for Chromebooks showed up that allowed for higher refresh rates on external monitors. Prior to this change, Chrome OS was great at extending displays in all sorts of resolutions, but not all sorts of frame rates. In Chrome OS 85, however, those flags necessary to make these higher refresh rates happen are in the past and the new normal sees users able to connect up their external monitors that support higher refresh rates and fully take advantage of them.

Just today, we hooked up a Chromebook to a monitor in the office and realized that it actually supports more than 60hz and actually has the ability to leverage 75hz. To be honest, we didn’t even know this particular monitor had that ability at all, but Chrome OS’ new display settings make finding and changing the refresh rates on your connected monitors a snap. Here’s how to make the changes and see if your monitor is capable of smoother refresh rates.

Navigate to your settings and head to Device > Displays > Select your display > Refresh Rate and you’ll now have the option to choose all the possible refresh rates that your monitor supports. Sadly, my daily driver display – an LG ultrawide 3440×1440 – doesn’t support anything higher than 60hz. After seeing Chrome OS running at 75hz on Gabriel’s monitor, I have to admit I’m already considering an upgrade. There’s something about that fluid, buttery motion on higher refresh screens that looks so awesome. If you’ve never seen it in action, you may want to go and hit up your settings to see if your connected display has the ability to push a better refresh rate. Trust me, if it does, your eyes will thank you.